The invention concerns a kneading apparatus for kneading and mixing dough, comprising a kneading chamber that is circumferentially at least section-wise delimited by a wall and has a discharge opening for discharging the kneaded dough from the kneading chamber and a feed inlet area for filling the kneading chamber with dough to be kneaded provided on a side of the kneading chamber that is facing away from the discharge opening. The kneading apparatus comprises moreover at least two shafts on which tools arranged in the kneading chamber are secured wherein at least one of the tools is configured to convey dough from the feed area in the conveying direction toward the discharge opening.
Such kneading apparatus are known as so-called continuous kneaders for producing dough in food technology. The kneading chamber is formed by a kneading trough in which two shafts furnished with kneading tools are rotating. The kneading tools knead the dough and convey it at the same time in the conveying direction. The common rotary speed of the two shafts can be increased or lowered in this context whereby the kneading process and also the conveying action of the dough in the conveying direction are changed. A disadvantage of such kneading apparatus is however that the kneading action of the apparatus on the one hand and the conveying action in the form of a volume stream of dough in the conveying direction on the other hand can be changed separate from each other only in that the kneading tools are exchanged for different kneading tools that, for example, transport the dough faster in the conveying direction to a discharge opening. Conversion of such an apparatus is however very complex.
The invention has the object to provide an apparatus of the aforementioned kind with which the kneading action on the one hand and the conveying action on the other hand can each be changed in a simple way.